By Gutierrez                                          H.B. No. 1197
         76R3415 GJH-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to health certificates required for certain licenses and
 1-3     certificates issued by the Texas Cosmetology Commission.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 31, Chapter 1036, Acts of the 62nd
 1-6     Legislature, Regular Session, 1971 (Article 8451a, Vernon's Texas
 1-7     Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
 1-8           Sec. 31.  HEALTH CERTIFICATE.  (a)  Every applicant for an
 1-9     original or renewal operator license, instructor license,
1-10     reciprocal license, or specialty certificate must submit a
1-11     certificate of health signed by a licensed physician, advanced
1-12     practice nurse, or licensed physician assistant, showing that the
1-13     applicant is  free, as determined by an examination, from
1-14     tuberculosis[, hepatitis,] or a contagious disease for which the
1-15     applicant is not entitled to protection under the Americans with
1-16     Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. Section 12101 et seq.).
1-17           (b)  Any physician, advanced practice nurse, or physician
1-18     assistant who signs a health certificate required by Subsection (a)
1-19     of this section  showing the applicant to be free from a disease
1-20     covered by that subsection without having made the physical
1-21     examination is guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction may be
1-22     fined not less than $50 or more than $200.
1-23           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
1-24     applies only to an application for a license or certificate or to
 2-1     renewal of a license or certificate filed on or after that date.
 2-2     An application filed before the effective date of this Act is
 2-3     governed by the law in effect at the time the application was made,
 2-4     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
 2-5           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-6     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-7     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-8     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-9     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.